


it takes guts (to be gentle and kind)

by humanbehavior



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autism, Family Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Sensory Overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 12:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25970026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanbehavior/pseuds/humanbehavior
Summary: ninety fucking minutes. five thought it was a decent timeframe to get all of his siblings together to be able to leave but of course, things always have to go wrong somehow, so here they were.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves
Comments: 20
Kudos: 257





	it takes guts (to be gentle and kind)

**Author's Note:**

> (title from i know it's over by the smiths)
> 
> this is episode 7 divergence from canon!! also very sexie tht this season was set in dallas bcoz i live there and the whole time i am just :O bcoz im an absolute idiot even though i know its a major city in the us LMAO
> 
> also im autistic btw so like... pwease no mean comments abt how its inaccurate bcoz no ❤

everything was fine. well fine besides the fact that he had ninety minutes to get all of his siblings together so they could leave the 1960s and back to the present. 

ninety minutes. 

ninety fucking minutes. five thought it was a decent timeframe to get all of his siblings together to be able to leave but of course, things always have to go wrong somehow, so here they were. 

everyone was there in the alley, except vanya of course, there always had to be someone missing. he'd seen her earlier on in the day to which she said she had some business to take care of, which basically meant _yeah, i'm not coming._ so he's not exactly too sure what he expected when she didn't show up. along with that, he'd literally seen her earlier on in the day and had a small argument so yeah, what did he expect?

they only had a few minutes to spare- maybe three at the most before time was up and they had to leave. but he didn't want to leave vanya behind, he couldn't bring himself to do that.

they were all looking confused asking each other where vanya was like he was their dad, or something. were dad's supposed to do stuff like that? he wasn't too sure, honestly. 

he gripped the case tightly in his hand, his knuckles nearly turning white. time was running out and he's not sure why he expected vanya to abandon her lover and throw it all out the window all of a sudden. he knew vanya, she was passionate about the ones she loved and she would never leave them until the end of time. 

five shuffles in place nervously, even if he already knew she wasn't already coming. the others are already talking to each other and as always- somehow they end up getting into a small argument which always happened but they were never too serious. 

"where's vanya?" allison's question broke him out of his thoughts. she was peeking outside of the alleyway as if she expected vanya to suddenly pop up. 

"she's not coming." 

allison looks towards five, "and how do you know that? she could show up any minute now."

"she's not going to," five said as he shook his head, "i… i saw her earlier today. we got into this small argument or whatever you want to call it, but we only had thirty minutes left at that point, and she wanted to do whatever she does and all of that. i knew she wouldn't come." 

and of course, began the overlapping comments from his siblings. 

"oh my god, you're kidding me."

"and you decided to just tell us this now? what's wrong with you?" 

and so on, it became all mushed together soon enough. it was too much noise. the conversation, the noise of the cars that drove by fast (because god knows the drivers in dallas _sucked_ if he was being 100 percent honest), the light wind that blew in his ears. 

five looked down to stare at the dumb fucking bowling shoes hes had on for the past week or so, the sound of the conversation was too loud that he wished he could've just muted them. 

five didn't know what to do so he did what he thought was the best- he set down the briefcase as he crouched down, laying his head in his arms. 

nobody had noticed for almost a whole minute until diego looked around as he saw no sign of five. granted, five was short but not _that_ short that it looked like he disappeared. diego spotted five crouched in the corner of the alley with his head in his hands. 

"hey, shut up. all of you," diego said, interrupting whatever one of them was saying. 

"uh, rude?" allison said with furrowed brows.

"no, sorry," he apologized,"just- five." he nudged his head in five's direction. 

"oh." the other three all said in unison.

this wasn't new to any of them, he'd had them even before _you know_ , reginald had always scolded him and said something about letting one loud noise stop him when in reality, it was much worse than just one loud noise. even when five had returned from the apocalypse, he was more sensitive to everything due to not being around anyone for over forty years. 

diego turned back to his siblings, "who usually helps him? because i have no idea how to help him." 

murmurs between the group confirmed that about 99.9% of the time it was vanya who helped and comforted him. 

"shit, okay," diego nodded, "um like how did she do it? did any of you see her like- you know?" 

"you're gonna do it?" klaus asked, his brows raised. 

"yeah, why?" diego sighed. 

"good, that's uh good," klaus nodded, "it's 'cause you're like a teddy bear and like not in a mean way." 

"how would it be in a mean way?" 

cue a playful glare incoming from luther. 

"oh," diego nodded slowly, realizing, "got it, yeah." 

"it's fine," luther says with a soft smile that lays upon his lips, "i've gotten used to it anyway." 

diego walks closer to where five is sat, not trying to make any loud sudden noises- god knows that's the last fucking thing he needs right now but apparently the universe had completely different plans and hated them because at that very moment the suitcase that would've taken them to 2019 went off with a loud ring and a bright blue light. the two worst things in this situation. 

five whines from the back of his throat and suddenly begins hitting both sides of his head. diego doesn't think before he jumps to five's side and embraces him, five's head lay against diego's chest, facing away from the blinding light. diego holds five with pressure on him until eventually the light dies down and all he does at this point is wait quietly for five. 

it takes a while- they all knew it would. in the past what, two weeks for five, he hasn't once caught a break or probably even slept knowing him. it was kind of expected that this would happen. 

but once five stabilizes his breathing once again, diego smiles softly at five, "you good?" 

five nods, "yeah, sorry that you had to do that. usually it's vanya who helps with them, you know."

"no, that's fine," diego says, "but speaking of vanya, do you wanna go find her?" 

five chuckles, "yeah. i'd like that." 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> idk if their characterization is right but um... YEA!! thank u for reading n making it 2 tha end! <3 i appreciate it 🥺 n if ur feeling nice please leave a kudos maybe even a comment, thank u so much 💖💞💗💓🌈💞💗💘


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